Is Your Romantic Gesture Actually Illegal?

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Demi Lovato premiered her new video for “Give Your Heart a Break” and it ends with a grand romantic gesture. What Lovato does is heartfelt, loving…and completely illegal. It’s not just Lovato, however, who has expressed their love with actions not entirely on the right side of the law. Music videos, along with TV and films, have a lost history of creating the grand romantic gesture that may or may not be 100% legal. So we decided to review a few iconic music moments and assess their legality.

Demi Lovato “Give Your Heart A Break”

If your significant other is having a tough time or you are going through a rough patch in the relationship, you may experience the urge to do something major to show your love. If you’re a photographer, or a crafter, you might want to create a scrapbook for them to remind them of the good times. Or, if you’re Demi Lovato, you might create a giant mural on the side of a building.

Is It Legal?: While certainly eye-catching, it is not legal. Most anti-graffiti laws would prohibit such exhibitions, at least without a proper permit. The law views it as a nuisance that lowers property values and is not to be tolerated. In most cities even if Lovato bought the building before posting her mural, she would have to get the proper permits to display such a thing, which kind of takes the surprise value out of the production.

Far East Movement “Live My Life (Party Rock Remix)”

At the start of this video where the iconic boombox scene from Say Anything gets a brief reenactment. You remember, when Lloyd Dobler stood outside of Diane Court’s house and blasted “In Your Eyes” to win her back. The Far East Movement are just doing it to let a girl know they’ve showed up, so the romantic punch is dialed down a little.

Is It Legal?: It depends on your local noise ordinance, the time of day, and the volume and duration of how long you blast a song. Lloyd Dobler undoubtedly violated noise ordinances by doing his boombox serenade at night and for an extended period of time. If any of Diane Court’s neighbors had called the cops to complain, he would very likely have been sited and fined. As the Far East Movement do it during the day and for a short duration, they are possibly not in violation — unless the volume they were blasting offered cause for complaint.

Ke$ha “Your Love Is My Drug”

How great would it be to spend a romantic night camping out under the stars with your significant other? You can do it on a beach, in a park, on a backroad, at lookout point, or in Joshua Tree National Park like Ke$ha and her man. It’s secluded, it’s idyllic, it’s classic.

Is It Legal?: Also depends. If you are camped out on a private beach or park, it’s completely illegal. It is not legal to stay all night in most cases, because even public spaces like a park or a beach almost always have a curfew specifically to avoid the problem of people who want to hang out all night. Ke$ha is legal, as long as she and her dude paid the camping fees, because she’s in a national park that encourages camping.

Big Time Rush “Worldwide”

It’s a classic scene: you didn’t know you were in love until your honey decides they’re leaving on a jet plane. So you rush to the airport to make a mad dash through security and woo them back with a kiss at the last minute. The spur of the moment love revelation is a very romantic spur and Big Time Rush play it a little different, singing morosely around an airport.

Is It Legal?: Absolutely not. TSA regulations require all flyers to go through a security check point, showing identification and meeting their regulations for acceptable carry-ons. Oh, and you need a ticket. There is no way they’re letting you through until you take your shoes off and submit to a full body scan. And there’s very little chance your fellow passengers, who have been in a very long security check line, will sympathize enough to let you skip to the front.

Britney Spears “Criminal”

Beating someone up on behalf of another person is a pretty big gesture and one that is as old as time. Everybody needs a hero. It’s fodder for fantasy that some white knight will come along and sweep your bad luck situation with a boyfriend who sucks. But when the white knight is a bad boy, should you still go with him? Britney does, in this video, to escape her verbally and physically abusive significant other.

Is It Legal?: No, fighting is not legal unless it is done in self-defense. Abuse of any kind is a very serious problem that you should get yourself away from as quickly as possible, but the bad boy/white knight stepping in to help you by landing a punch could end him in jail. And Britney could face charges for the satisfying kick to the crotch she lands after her crappy boyfriend is splayed on the ground — it’s not self-defense if he’s unconscious.